Ex-Daily Post journalist Steve Brauner also squares up to Labour

Carole Storey, wife of former Liverpool city leader Mike Storey, is bidding to win a seat on Liverpool City Council as part of a Lib Dem bid to regain control at the Town Hall.

Mrs Storey, who was Lady Mayoress during the year Lord Storey served as the city’s Lord Mayor, has been named as the party’s candidate in Childwall in next May’s local elections.

The former Childwall Comprehensive School teacher served as a Liberal councillor on the old Merseyside County Council representing Anfield for five years in the early 1980s.

It was Mike Storey, as leader, who swept the Lib Dems to power with a landslide victory in the local elections in 1998. His success banished the Labour Party to the opposition benches until 2010.

The Lib Dems, whose support has since dwindled to just four councillors in the Labour dominated council are claiming increasing support in south Liverpool. They cite the ruling party’s decision to sell the Sefton Park meadows and a slice of the Calderstones/Harthill estate to house-builder Redrow as one of the reasons.

Meanwhile, Steve Brauner, former Liverpool Daily Post deputy editor and business editor, has been named as the Lib Dems’ candidate in Allerton and Hunt’s Cross. The seat  is currently held by Labour’s Rachael O’Byrne, daughter of Deputy Mayor Ann O’Byrne.

It is Brauner’s first foray into politics and, if he succeeds, he will join his partner, Cllr Mirna Juarez, who already represents Allerton and Hunts Cross, on the Lib Dem bench.

Hopeful: From left, Steve Brauner (Allerton Hunts Cross), Carole Storey (Childwall), Kris Brown (Woolton), Lib Dem Leader Cllr Richard Kemp, Alisha Lewis (Mossley Hill), Liz Makinson (Church), Norman Mills, Cressington.


The party has also named Liz Makinson as their choice in Church Ward where she would join husband Cllr Andrew Makinson, deputy leader of the current group. Although she has been actively involved in the ward for more than 20 years, she is only now able to stand following her early retirement as a teacher.

In Cressington, former city councillor Norman Mills hopes to make a comeback, while in neighbouring Mossley Hill, university student Alisha Lewis is bidding to snatch a Labour seat.

In Woolton, Labour defector Kris Brown, chairman of the Liverpool Lib Dems, hopes to take a second seat from his old party.

Lib Dem leader Cllr Richard Kemp said: “Every Lib Dem Councillor elected next May will be another vote inside the council for scrutiny and challenge.”

Labour currently holds 80 of the 90 council seats in Liverpool. Whatever the result next May, Labour will retain control.